State v. Swindler

294 P.3d 308, 296 Kan. 670
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedFebruary 15, 2013
DocketNo. 104,580
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 294 P.3d 308 (State v. Swindler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Swindler, 294 P.3d 308, 296 Kan. 670 (kan 2013).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Beier, J.:

Defendant Jeffery Swindler appeals his conviction for rape. He argues his conviction should be reversed on two grounds: (1) rape is an alternative means crime, and the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support each of the means upon which the district court instructed the jury; and (2) the district court erred in denying Swindler’s motion to suppress incriminating statements and a drawing he provided law enforcement officers. Swindler also contends that the journal entry of judgment wrongly reflects that the district court imposed lifetime postrelease rather than lifetime parole and that the district court erred in imposing lifetime parole with electronic monitoring.

We reverse his conviction because his motion to suppress should have been granted, and we remand to the district court for further proceedings.

[672]*672Factual and Procedural Background

Defendant Jeffery Swindler lived with his then girlfriend, M.M., and his two daughters from a previous relationship in a rental home owned by M.M.’s aunt, J.C. J.C.’s then-ll-year-old daughter, L.C., M.M.’s cousin, occasionally spent the night at Swindler’s residence. One night in late 2008, Swindler, M.M., and L.C. were in bed watching a movie in Swindler and M.M.’s bedroom. According to L.C., she fell asleep during the movie and awoke to find Swindler’s finger in her vagina. L.C. told her mother about the incident in May 2009. Based on her allegation, the State charged Swindler with one count of rape under K.S.A. 21-3502(a)(2) (sexual intercourse with a child under 14 years of age).

Before trial, Swindler filed a motion to suppress incriminating statements, written confessions, and a drawing he provided to investigators during an interview at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s Wichita office. In his memorandum in support of the motion to suppress, Swindler argued that the interview was a custodial interrogation and that his invocation of his right to remain silent was not honored by the officers conducting the interview, KBI Agent Ricky Attebury and Jeff Hawkins of the Sumner County Sherriff s office. Swindler argued that tire statements he made after he invoked his right to remain silent were involuntaiy and inadmissible.

During the hearing on the motion to suppress, Attebury and Hawkins testified about the circumstances surrounding Swindler’s interview. Hawkins testified that he had interviewed Swindler as a suspect for the first time at the Southwest Wichita Police Department Substation. At the conclusion of that interview, Hawkins invited Swindler to the KBI’s Wichita office to take a polygraph examination.

Six days later, at a time scheduled to accommodate Swindler’s work schedule, M.M. drove Swindler and his two daughters to the KBI office. M.M. and the two girls waited in a hallway while Swindler was interviewed, beginning at 8 a.m. Attebury testified that the interview room measured 8' x 8'; Attebuiy sat in front of the exit during the interview and examination. At the start of the in[673]*673terview, Attebury advised Swindler of his Miranda rights. Attebury also provided Swindler a written form that indicated that the polygraph examination was voluntary and that Swindler could terminate the examination at any time. Attebury testified that the way for Swindler to terminate the interview was to “get up and walk out.” Neither Hawkins nor Attebury was armed, and both were dressed in civilian clothes. No other officers were involved with the interview. Attebury testified that there are 10 to 12 plainclothes agents assigned to the Wichita office but that typically there were fewer than 6 in the office at the time the interview occurred. Swindler was not placed in any restraints during the interview; nor was any property, such as a driver’s license or wallet, taken from him.

Shortly after the interview began, Hawkins left the room but was able to watch the interview on a monitor in another room. He testified that he did not watch the interview in its entirety. After Hawkins left the room, Attebury started the interview. At 10:02 a.m., Swindler took an 8-minute unescorted break. After the break, Attebury connected Swindler to the polygraph machine and conducted the examination, which lasted 46 minutes. Following the examination, Attebury informed Swindler that he failed the examination questions about whether he had ever touched L.C. in her “vaginal area.” At that point, Attebury’s questions became more direct and accusatory.

According to the video recording of the interview in the record on appeal, at about 11:20 a.m., the following exchange between Attebury and Swindler occurred:

“Attebury: Just tell me so we can move on. Ok. With the truth of it.
“Swindler: You want me to say “Yes. I did it’ and ....
“Attebury: Well, yeah, the details, yeah ....
“Swindler: ... go on ... .
“Attebury: Yeah, the details, so I, so I can figure out how to ask the questions
“Swindler: I can’t give you the details. I don’t know when I did it. I’m done. I want to go home. I’m done.
“Attebury: Let me, let me go ahead and talk, tell Jeff [Hawkins],
“Swindler: I can’t give you the details of when it happened. You know. It’s been so long. I can’t remember if I touched a little girl’s vaginal area. You know. I didn’t [674]*674do it. You know. I don’t know what the heck’s wrong, but I didn’t do it. I know I didn’t do it.”

The video shows Attebury then left the room and 3 minutes passed before he and Hawkins returned. Attebury testified at tire suppression hearing that he suspended Swindler s interview to consult with Hawkins because Attebury thought Swindler was “close to invoking” his right to remain silent. When the two investigators re-entered the interview room, Hawkins questioned Swindler about the incident with L.C. Hawkins’ questions were, like Atte-bury’s, accusatory.

“Hawkins: Well what are we gonna do?
“Swindler: What are we gonna do?
“Hawkins: Well, I gotta, I gotta ask you [inaudible] Jeff. You know. Who am I dealing with, you know, are you this guy that goes around taking advantage of younger girls? Or is this something ....
“Swindler: I don’t, I don’t do that stuff. I don’t mess around with little girls. Since I’ve got two daughters of my own. I’ve got to take care of my ldds. I go to work. I bust my time. I go to work.
“Hawkins: I understand that. But, you know, I need to know where I’m at here. Is this something that just happened out of the blue, one-time tiling, or is it something, you know, that’s more far reaching than that.
“Swindler: [stuttering] Ok. Just to get this over with so I can go home. It’s out of the blue. I need to go-I wanna go home. I gotta get work done. I gotta go to work so I can malee some money for my kids and stuff so ... .
“Hawkins: Well, tell me what happened.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
294 P.3d 308, 296 Kan. 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-swindler-kan-2013.